Gagnier v. Curran Construction Company

MR. JUSTICE JOHN C. HARRISON

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This appeal is from a jury verdict for damages resulting *470from the death of a child. The jury awarded an amount of $35,661 of which $25,000 was for punitive or exemplary damages.

On September 24, 1963, Renee Gagnier, aged 9, and a playmate, Christine Byington, were suffocated at a cave-in of an excavation on property owned by the Curran Construction Company, appellant herein. The property involved was located in a new residential subdivision near the city of Missoula. The subdivision at the time of the accident was partially built…